Sunday, 28 June 2009

Celebrations - and weeds

A big weekend with two weddings, one for a great friend's son, and one in the Catholic Abbey in Hereford followed by a reception at the family home. Plus flowers for a graduation ceremony, all on the same Saturday. I always underestimate the time involved, and while wedding preparations take over, weeds gather even greater speed in the gardens as there's no spare work force to tackle them. I don't think people believe me when I explain that the gardens are rather weedy and very far from show gardens!

One wedding required 11 bridesmaid's bouquets plus over 40 buttonholes. It was interesting to realise how long it took! The other was lots of garlands and a globe, plus simple flowers, and garlands also take ages but I think the time spent is definitely worth it. I loved the rood screen in the church softened with alchemilla studded with a range of red poppies and cornflowers, and used simple alchemilla decorations on other surfaces, and a huge vintage zinc florist's bucket filled with Lysimachia, branches of philadelphus and great globes of alliums on the large central windowsill. The bride didn't want pedestals or pastels. The other wedding did require huge pedestals and Meg is a total whizz at generous countrystyle church displays so we did the abbey together and made huge arrangements of delphiniums, foxgloves, larkspur, golden philadelphus purple stemmed lobelia and lots of bits and pieces. They looked wonderful and I hope the bride's family will send through some photos as I (as usual) had no time to take any. I crept up to the local church the day after to snap what we had done there.

This week I really need to hurl some more energy into weeding, but there are also lots of mail orders to go out - the gardens are becoming full of flowers all of a sudden. Outside there are stocks, annual cerinthe, ammi. dill, verbena, achillea, annual phlox, sweet peas, lobelia, astrantia, roses, alliums, veronicas, heleniums, eryngiums........

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About Me

Since 2004 I have grown traditional flowers for sale and for weddings and events. In 2006 I expanded into several acres and began sending out home grown seasonal bouquets mail order as well as the event and wedding flowers. I moved gardens from Herefordshire to Dorset in 2013. In 2014 we are involved in starting up The British Flower School at Mapperton House.
I also lecture and give courses on various aspects of gardening.